Runesamurai wrote:I couldn't agree more. Now that extended characters is functional this mod has more potential than ever. I can't wait to see how far it comes.

Normally I would say Zuika should be added too but I never found him useful in RotDD and always dropped him for Hanzou as soon as I could because he was just not dealing considerable damage.

Really? Zuika looks pretty cool, so it's a bit sad that he isn't all that useful in practice (that said, if this mod eventually incorporates all ROTDD extra characters, plus the graphical upgrade, all the better eh? no reason to play the GBA one then, haha.

By all means yes. I'm always up for having more characters. The only problem with including Mawlock is we would not be able to implement the card system which would basically defeat the purpose of having him.

*** No more promotion sickness!Promoted stats doesn't get cut in 15%.Instead, they get raised by 10%.

*** New minimum level to promote!Lvl 10 characters can't get promoted anymore.Promoting window now opens up at lvl16 and goes until lvl20.Promoted characters now receive experience points as a lvl+15 unpromoted.

*** Late characters already promoted!From chapter 6 on, every character to join the force will be already promoted.

*** Force members and enemies attributes rebalanced!

*** New spell (range ability) for Adam!

*** New animations for Adam, Bleu and Zappa!

*** New promoted sprites for Zappa!

*** Yogurt Ring redefined!No more costume changing, which actually used to brake Jogurt's animation in previous versions.Instead, the ring will be equippable by Jogurt, giving him a battle bonus.

To boost the replaying value of the mod and to post a real challenge to hardcore players, I just thought of a set Challenges to be achieved.Will post it here and update the first post for all to see.

SHINING FORCE BROTHERS MOD CHALLENGES SET:

1. On to Alterone: Win battle 3 with all Rune Knights still alive2. Not to use Blaze inside: Win the chapel battle with Tao having a full MP bar3. Band on the run: Win the Laser Eye battle with all your 12 characters and at least 1 Pegasus Knight still alive4. A Hamster to rule them all: Defeat Elliott with Jogurt landing the last blow5. Rest in peace: At Ring Reef, finish the Necromancer without killing any ghoul or skeleton6. A brother for a father: Defeat Kane with Max, Anri and Mae alone on the upper plateau7. Burning the Wires: Finish the battle by defeating Chaos and 2 other robots with a single Alef's Bolt 28. Head of the operation: Defeat Colossus central head before the other two9. Frontal assault: Kill Darksol with at least 10 enemies still alive10. Perfect score: Finish Dark Dragon seeing Max special animation and with a full 99 HP bar

So I had that reset issue a few times, but managed to resolve it by using a different emulator like you suggested. Annoying bug but not completely terrible. I also had the ending credits stop displaying scenes about halfway through, so I never go to the little Adam and Max cut scene at the end, but not a big deal.

As for the mod: Definitely was a lot of fun! Things were very challenging, but never unfairly EXCEPT for Dark Dragon, which was a HUGE pain in the butt, and required save state abuse unfortunately I would suggest toning that fight down, perhaps by making the side heads easier to kill? As for the end game cutscene, would you be able to edit the cutscene dialogue at all? You could have the team mention that Kane stayed behind as well when they are asking Nova about Max (right before the ancient castle sinks), and then in the very final cutscene, perhaps Max could say something like "You think you could settle down here, brother?" before THE END appears. Nothing important, just adds to the flavor of Kane being there.

Some things to note: - In the Colossus fight, if 2 of the three heads attempted a physical attack, it froze the game. This also required that I use save states so that if one of them DID attack, I could simply reload.- Jogurt couldn't equip the Great Axe, nor could he equip the Atlas. The best weapon he could use was the Battle Axe (I never found a Heat Axe, which was weird, but I assume he wouldn't have been able to use it anyway). Was this intentional to lock him out of the promotional axes? If so, I suggest making it so he CAN use those. By the end game, he had become fairly useless compared to the rest of the force. He couldn't deal much damage, and while dropping some Aura 2's was somewhat helpful, I was really wishing I had just dumped him for Torasu, so that I had access to stronger Aura casts. - Flare is way too expensive for the damage it deals. It was never worth casting vs Blaze 3 or 4. I would suggest lowering it's cost to around 15. This would likely be fine since by the time people might be accessing it, they likely only have 2-3 fights left in the game, and no one would be using it against Dark Dragon at all, since it would be the same damage as Blaze 4 for more cost. - Did you edit the dodge rates of flying enemies, or was it always this bad? If you increased those rates, I recommend lowering them a little bit, so that they aren't so irritating. It got really bad on the ship battles with the bats.

Other than these notes, the game felt fun and balanced! Excellent work, I really enjoyed this playthrough!

ShiningForceHero wrote:So I had that reset issue a few times, but managed to resolve it by using a different emulator like you suggested. Annoying bug but not completely terrible. I also had the ending credits stop displaying scenes about halfway through, so I never go to the little Adam and Max cut scene at the end, but not a big deal.

I don't have a clue on what causes the game to reset, but I've seen it in other mods too.It's even more strange that's easy fixed, just changing the emulator. You just have to pass that sigle point and then may comeback to the previous emulator with no issue.

Haven't had that issue with end scene though.Have you experimented that more than once?Tried to change the emulator too?

As for the mod: Definitely was a lot of fun! Things were very challenging, but never unfairly EXCEPT for Dark Dragon, which was a HUGE pain in the butt, and required save state abuse unfortunately I would suggest toning that fight down, perhaps by making the side heads easier to kill? As for the end game cutscene, would you be able to edit the cutscene dialogue at all? You could have the team mention that Kane stayed behind as well when they are asking Nova about Max (right before the ancient castle sinks), and then in the very final cutscene, perhaps Max could say something like "You think you could settle down here, brother?" before THE END appears. Nothing important, just adds to the flavor of Kane being there.

Neat ideas!I'll see if I can make some of them happen in future releases.

Some things to note: - In the Colossus fight, if 2 of the three heads attempted a physical attack, it froze the game. This also required that I use save states so that if one of them DID attack, I could simply reload.

Haven't seen that one either, though I playtest it quite a few times.

- Jogurt couldn't equip the Great Axe, nor could he equip the Atlas. The best weapon he could use was the Battle Axe (I never found a Heat Axe, which was weird, but I assume he wouldn't have been able to use it anyway). Was this intentional to lock him out of the promotional axes? If so, I suggest making it so he CAN use those. By the end game, he had become fairly useless compared to the rest of the force. He couldn't deal much damage, and while dropping some Aura 2's was somewhat helpful, I was really wishing I had just dumped him for Torasu, so that I had access to stronger Aura casts.

He can't equip large weapons.For axes, he can use up to the Heat Axe.He can use some spears and swords too. Give them a try!

- Flare is way too expensive for the damage it deals. It was never worth casting vs Blaze 3 or 4. I would suggest lowering it's cost to around 15. This would likely be fine since by the time people might be accessing it, they likely only have 2-3 fights left in the game, and no one would be using it against Dark Dragon at all, since it would be the same damage as Blaze 4 for more cost.

Maybe it is.It may worth the cost if you're cast on multiple enemies, but definitely not on DD.I'll give some thoughts on it for future updates.

- Did you edit the dodge rates of flying enemies, or was it always this bad? If you increased those rates, I recommend lowering them a little bit, so that they aren't so irritating. It got really bad on the ship battles with the bats.

I did edit some of them and they are not all the same.Can't remember especifically the bats, but I may have raised them. Not sure.Vanilla had some weird evading rates too, notably for chimaeras.But in the end, it's never higher than 50%, so keep striking them and use spells whenever you can.

Other than these notes, the game felt fun and balanced! Excellent work, I really enjoyed this playthrough!

But I still think Kane should join at the Ancient Tower instead of at Ramladu's castle. That would of course mean he wouldn't Dual Wield the Sword of Light and the Sword of Darkness anymore but Erikin has some new sprites now to rectify this. I also think Kane should have his own personal weapon that is equally as strong as the Chaos Breaker if not a little stronger.

I'm not sure about Graphic Upgrade versions.But I could guess it is pretty much compatible, as the compatibility had been set on v3.0 and I haven't changed so much graphical stuff since it.Maybe would have some issues with Zappa (Zylo). Not sure.

Anyway, a big part of the new graphics I use in this mod came from Erikin and should be the same he uses in GU.

Whenever I get to finishing Shining Force Alternate I do plan to update The graphic upgrade mod to accommodate some of the more popular mods, brothers included. I hope to have SFA done this month if everything goes as planned.

This is quite a mod. Very challenging to say the least. I feel like my characters aren't dealing enough damage like they should though. And Dark Dragon having max resistance to Slow makes no sense. That makes him take less damage from The Chaos Breaker instead of more. Were you aware of this?